AU Pharmacy College Discusses Future Directions

The College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Ajman University (AU), has decided to increase the bachelor of pharmacy curriculum to 160 credit hours.

The decision was made in a recent meeting of the College Advisory Board in the presence of the College Dean, Prof Nageeb Hassan, Dr Sanah Hasan, Coordinator – Office of Experiential learning, and Board members: Drs Ola AlAhdab, Dalia Murad, Mohammed Barrani, and Emad Adnan.

The modification of the old pharmaceutical technology master’s program to an “MSc. in Pharmaceutical Sciences” to cover more areas required for job market was also discussed.

The Board also discussed another Master’s in Pharmacovigilance and Regulatory Affairs. They affirmed the importance of the new program and its relevance to the job market as the current laws in the UAE require for any pharmaceutical company to appoint a pharmacovigilance officer.

The program is expected to include 30 credit hours plus 6 hours for dissertation, to be chosen by the student as either a pharmacovigilance or regulatory affairs stream.

The Board has also given nod to the certificate programs in marketing to be offered to enrolled students without dissertation. These would offer a shorter and focused areas related to pharmaceutical marketing. A suggested title to such certificate was a “Certificate in Pharmaceutical Marketing Management” or “Strategic Marketing & Sales Management”.

The Board suggested that workshops and sessions targeting the students would be of great value to expose them to the challenges in the job market. These sessions could cover topics about pharmacy law to pharmacovigilance and legislations, given by professional speakers from different fields in practice.